The World Series Cricket Cavaliers XI was a cricket team formed to play in

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to establish ...

. Taking the

International Cavaliers The International Cavaliers were an ''ad hoc'' cricket team made up of famous cricketers in order to encourage local cricket. Their teams included many prominent cricketers from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as many retired veterans and talented ...

as its inspiration, the team was envisaged as a way of giving those players under contract to the WSC organisation, but not picked regularly for one of the three main teams ( Australia XI, the West Indies XI and the Rest Of The World XI) regular match play and opportunities to win prize money. The team was formed in 1978, before the start of the second season of World Series Cricket, with a tour of Australia scheduled to take place at the same time as the main competition. This would see the Cavaliers play each of the other three WSC teams at a range of smaller venues around Australia between November 1978 and February 1979.

Cavaliers Country Tour 1978/79

Following the end of the 1977/78 World Series Cricket season,

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

's organisation signed up a second tranche of players to participate in the series. The consequence of this was that there were invariably more players available than there were places in the three WSC teams. To compensate for those players who were not being selected regularly, a new side was formed in 1978 that would undertake a tour of Australia. The plan was for this new side, which came to be called the "Cavaliers", to take on each of the other three WSC teams in turn in a series of both one-day and two-day games. The schedule would see whichever of the three teams was not playing either a Supertest or an International Cup game taking on the Cavaliers. This ensured not only that the "fringe" players got both match practice and access to prize money on offer by playing for the Cavaliers, but also that the other teams were also able to continue playing during "downtime" periods when they were not in the main WSC schedule. It had the further effect of bringing World Series Cricket to a number of smaller venues around the country, rather than restricting it to playing in the major cities. The Cavaliers Country Tour eventually encompassed a total of 9 two-day games and 15 one-day games. These were scheduled in four separate blocks. The first three games were all one-day, with each scheduled against one of the other WSC teams and played in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

. This was followed by a two-week tour of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

against the West Indies, then another two-week tour of Victoria and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

(NSW) against Australia, with a final three-week stint against the World XI, again in Victoria and NSW. The final game saw the Cavaliers take on the West Indies in a two-day game in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Cavaliers overall record

Cavaliers v Australia

WSC Cavaliers XI v WSC West Indies XI

WSC Cavaliers XI v WSC Rest Of The World XI

External links

Cavaliers Country Tour 1978/79
- ESPN Cricinfo {{DEFAULTSORT:World Series Cricket Cavaliers XI

Cavaliers Country Tour 1978/79

Cavaliers v Australia

WSC Cavaliers XI v WSC West Indies XI

WSC Cavaliers XI v WSC Rest Of The World XI

See also

External links